The release of iOS 7 created an online traffic jam: Blue Coat

Traffic to Apple.com jumped by as much as 265 per cent in the five days following the release of the iOS update, according to Blue Coat Systems.

Traffic to Apple.com jumped by as much as 265 per cent in the five days following the release of iOS 7, according to Blue Coat Systems.

For appliances where Apple.com accounted for less than four per cent of their traffic, Blue Coat Systems product marketing director, Jonathan Andresen, said the number tripled to more than 13 per cent on average.

"In at least one case, Apple.com traffic skyrocketed to over 32 per cent of total Web traffic," he said.

With over 600 million iOS devices on the market, and 93 per cent of those running iOS 6, Andresen said it was no surprise that Apple's servers got a workout during the launch of the new firmware.

While sites such as YouTube and other streaming video sites are no stranger to heavy bandwidth demands, the difference with Apple.com is the sudden spike in demand due to iOS 7.

"More than anything, the key takeaway is that the web has shifted to large files, like software updates and video downloads, have the potential to significantly disrupt bandwidth consumption patterns," he said.

World Cup in play

Andresen expects the traffic jam created by iOS 7 to be a sign of future things to come, with the Internet expected to buckle under the weight of the content explosion.

To avoid this pitfall, additional bandwidth will need to be added, as well as potentially moving to metered Internet plans or regulating the growing number of heavy downloaders.

While iOS 8 may potentially be another year away, Andresen warns that the World Cup is not and will be held in a few months time.

"With sixty-four games to be played, you can bet customers around the world will see significant traffic spikes in June and July, unless their networks are prepared to absorb them," he said.

Fortunately, Andresen said caching can help address these traffic spikes without forcing customers to continually expand their capacity.